From 1 July 2014, the ATO will continue to send paper activity statements until they receive an electronic lodgement.
Once you have lodged an activity statement via an electronic medium (Tax Agent Portal, Business Portal, Small Business Reporting (SBR)), the ATO will cease generating a paper return and whichever medium was used to lodge that statement is where the next activity statement will be made available.
People who elect to receive their activity statements electronically will generally receive them three to four days after the generation date. The generation date is usually the middle of the month prior to the end of the quarter. If you have elected to use the Business Portal or SBR you are notified by email that your activity statement is available to access and complete online. You must have a valid email address recorded with the Business Portal and SBR. If Tactica Partners receives an electronic activity statement on your behalf we will notify you of this via email.
The ATO will continue to send paper activity statements for the following form types because they cannot currently despatch them electronically:
• Annual GST Report
• Quarterly PAYG Instalment Notice
• Quarterly GST Instalment Notice
• Quarterly GST and PAYG Instalment Notice

Property developers and use of trusts under scrutiny
The ATO is examining arrangements where property developers use trusts to return the proceeds from property development as capital gains instead of income on revenue account. ATO Deputy Commissioner Tim Dyce said the ATO has “begun auditing property developers who are carrying out activities which conflict with their stated purpose of capital investment”. He said a “growing number of property developers are using trusts to suggest a development is a capital asset to generate rental income and claim the 50% capital gains discount”.

Mr Dyce warned that penalties of up to 75% of the tax avoided can apply to those found to be deliberately using special purpose trusts to mischaracterise the proceeds of property developments. The ATO said it has made adjustments to increase the net income of a number of trusts. It said penalties will be significantly reduced if taxpayers make a voluntary disclosure

The ATO is widening the breadth of data it obtains on individuals from financial institutions, possibly revealing hidden or undisclosed offshore income. The ATO has recently announced a data-matching program targeting offshore bank accounts. Under the program, the ATO will collect account details of bank customers from various financial institutions to identify Australian resident taxpayers with offshore bank accounts which may indicate evidence of undeclared income and/or gains.

TIP: The Tax Commissioner earlier this year announced a tax “amnesty” called Project DO IT which aims to encourage individuals to disclose previously undeclared offshore income or assets. Under the program, individuals could be offered reduced penalties for disclosing their offshore income. The ATO has been warning individuals to come forward before 19 December 2014, which is when the project will end.